Walt Disney World Goofy Challenge Part 3

(aka Disney's Arctic Endurance Challenge)

Since the cold weather, make that really, really cold weather, was a possibility for the races and even though I fully expected the 10 day and farther out forecasts to be wrong, I still packed all my cold weather gear (of which I have little, being from southeast Texas). As the races approached it was seeming increasingly likely that the weather would be bad, and it was with near 30 degree temperatures, wind, rain and sleet as we stood around for the start of Saturday's half marathon.

I set the typical 3 alarms to wake up at 2:30am to make sure I would be on the bus by 3:30am (last bus out at 4:00am). I checked the current weather and it said 40 degrees. I was ecstatic, after all it was supposed to be 10 degrees colder!!! I went out to check and it felt cold, but reasonable outside. I made my final clothing choices based on this and prepared to leave. By the time I had gotten to the staging area I noticed the wind was picking up and the temperature was dropping, so out comes the plastic poncho for a windbreak and body heat catcher. I walk the half mile or so to the staging area and meet up with some of the Team Voice friends for a bit. I made the mistake of checking in my bag early and looking for a few other friends that I couldn't find and then I couldn't find the Team Voice friends either. Most people were huddled together against the downwind side of the staging tents and wearing so much that you couldn't really tell who anybody was. Then sleet started to fall for a while. A little while later it was time to walk the mile plus down to the start area. I went to my corral alone as I was unable to locate anyone I knew and stayed at the back of Corral E. About 10 minutes before the race start Debra appears right near me, having had some transportation issues. We were not specifically planning to meet up, but it was good to see a familiar face.



After a short wait, and a lot of incessant talking by the DJ hosts over the loud speakers, the national anthem plays and fireworks go off. Then we wait for the crowd to move.

After about 21 minutes of waiting and shuffling forward, we begin the half marathon race. It is around 30 degrees out,windy and wet. Debra and I start at a decent pace given the crowds and are amused that many under-dressed people are going through the throw away clothes on the roadside to add extra layers. Debra and I are both run/walking different patterns but are staying fairly consistently together. The course runs us past the front of Epcot and towards the Magic Kingdom, although it is dark there is still some live entrtzinment along the way. After several miles, and still dark I start to get pelted with ice pellets falling from the sky for about 10 - 15 minutes, I am tempted to loudly ask what else could happen but didn't want to really tempt fate that much. Finally we reach the Contemporary Resort and the Magic Kingdom, and the fun really starts. Main Street of the Magic Kingdom is lined with cheering supporters who braved the cold weather to come and support the runners. In addition are various Disney characters appropriate for the Main Street theming. As we run right into Tomorrowland we start to see numerous Disney characters with photo opportunities throughout the entire run within the park. It's still dark at that hour as you can see by my photo with Stitch and a photo with Peter Pan and Wendy in Fantasyland as well. and by the time I was passing under and through Cinderella's Castle the day was just starting to show some light of its own across lit up Main Street as viewed from the front of Cinderella's Castle.
Then it was a turn through Liberty Square and out of the back of the park between Adventureland and Frontierland. Just outside of the park was a large pirate boat setup with Captain Jack Sparrow and crew posing for photos as we turned onto service roads and began the trip back to Epcot. By this time daylight was readily visible and there was quite a bit of entertainment along this road from accordion players to a lounge-type singer to piped in music, and of course more characters posing for photos. All this time Debra and I had been somewhat leap-frogging each other as we stopped for photo ops and continued running, during a stretch back towards Epcot I struck up a conversation with a runner named Mike and it turns out that he runs the Be Our Guest Disney Podcast. Now I do not listen to this podcast, but I will try it out, especially since Mike was nice enough to take my photo at mile marker 10. The mile markers were sponsored by Sharpie and were definitely more creative than the standard mile marker I am used to seeing. Although it would of been nice if they had not put all the gun time clocks in the way of the signs. Continuing up the road we finally came within sight of Spaceship Earth at the front of Epcot. We do a final loop in the front of Epcot and I stop for one last photo with some Disney Channel characters and then strip off my sweatpants so I can run the final half mile or so in my jungle print shorts that I bought for this race. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of me in these shorts so you'll have to use your imagination. I run through the crowds and finish in 2:58:48. This was my second slowest half marathon time, but was right on my goal of 3 hours and left me feeling pretty good at the finish. Debra finished about a minute behind me and I got back with her after the finish.

I really wanted to hang around and cheer and watch friends come in, but it was so cold, wet and windy that I just grabbed my checked bag and headed to the bus stop for the trip back to the hotel. After I got back I soaked in a warm bath for about 20 minutes to warm up (definitely not my usual post race activity). A month earlier I had thought I raced in bad conditions in a near-freezing light rain in Austin, but this was easdily worse today. The weather aside, I had an absolutely awesome time and a wonderful experience--which is exactly what I wanted. A couple hours after the race I met up with some of my fellow runners from WISH Team Ohana for ice cream (can you tell this was planned before we knew what the weather would be?) at the Beaches & Cream shop at Disney's Beach Club Resort for restful conversation about tomorrow's full marathon....

Walt Disney World Goofy Challenge Part 2

Thursday and Friday were busy days leading up to the weekend races and I finally had the chance to meet up with a number of people with whom I have only known through the computer until now. For several years I have been a member of the DIS WISH boards online (Disney Information Station and We're Inspired to Stay Healthy) which ends up combining joint interests into a Disney fan and health/exercise support site. Also on this site, I am organized in a group called Team Ohana (reference to the Disney Lilo and Stitch movie). In addition, I interact with a group of Disney running bloggers who are part of Team Voice, another Disney fan group/running group. Some of my blog readers are familiar with these groups, but most of you are probably trying to figure out just what it means. let's just say I was meeting up with some old friends that I have never met in person.

Thursday I was able to meet up with the DIS boards WISH Team Ohana Captain Debra and her husband Mark at Disney's Hollywood Studios before heading to the Expo to get our packets. We ended up on opposite sides of the park center right before a parade broke out there. We eventually got together, which was a bit exciting for me as it was my first time to meet Debra in person (as with all these people in this post) even though we have known each other online for over 2 years. At the Expo we met up with Jackie (another member of Team Ohana) to get our packets picked up. While getting the packets I found out that some items were missing from my packet and had to chase those down. Fortunately, Disney's problem solving people fixed this very quickly and I caught up to my group after a short while. We had lunch at the All Star Cafe and headed into the Expo floor area, which was nice but not as big as I expected being about 1/3 the size of the Houston Marathon Expo or smaller. I did manage to pick up a few nice items including a sweatshirt that apparently sold out quickly based on questions I would get asked later.

Below is a photo from the Expo of myself, Jackie and her husband on top, and Debra and her husband Mark on the bottom.



I spent Thursday night and Friday morning at the Disney parks with my family, but started trying to take things a bit easier Friday (mostly failing, but having fun). Also later Thursday night I am trading text messages with Jeff W (a Team Voice blogger I'll be seeing at a Friday dinner) and find out he is about 100 yards away from where I currently am at the Downtown Disney shopping area. So we are able to meet up for a bit.

After a light day at the Magic Kingdom on Friday, I head over to Disney's Hollywood Studios for the dinner with Team Voice bloggers at Mama Melrose's Italian Restaurant. With the races looming the next few days, most ordered a pasta dish. I decided to order the balsamic chicken flatbread, which was very good. In addition to Jeff I was able to meet up with several other bloggers, including Amanda and Rae. Amanda writes the Alone in Walt Disney World? blog which I have followed for a while now. Amanda always seems to get a good mix of life events and running in her blog like I want to try to do more of, in addition to writing about Disney. Rae writes the Rae's Place...follow me to Disney blog, which I have also followed for about a year now. Rae was nice enough to bring gift bags with small runner items for everyone--thanks again Rae!!
I was able to get a photo of Amanda and I before dinner.

I ended up riding the resort bus back to Port Orleans with Amanda as I was going to the Riverside lounge area and Amanda's room was on the French Quarter side, each a different area of that resort. I enjoyed getting the chance to just chat for a bit with her on the bus.

I met up with Debra again at the resort's River Roost lounge to chat about the races and life in general. After some good conversation and a few drinks (non-alcoholic of course, given what was in store for us this weekend) we called it an early night and left for an early bedtime, only 8 - 9 hours remained until the half marathon start of the Goofy Challenge.....

Walt Disney World Goofy Challenge Part 1

My recent trip was a wonderfully busy time combing a family vacation trip with my running the Disney World Goofy Challenge Race, which is a combination of the Disney World Half Marathon and Marathon Races on consecutive days. Obviously the big highlight of the trip was crossing the marathon finish line, and thus completing the 39.3 mile Goofy Challenge, by jumping over it for joy (sure hope the professional photographers got that one), after that another real highlight of this trip was meeting up with many online friends, whom I have known online for some time now but had never met in person. Some are fellow bloggers, some are podcasters and some are fellow WISH Team members, of course they were all also fellow Disney fanatics. I am glad to say they all seemed as wonderful in person as they have to me through our online relationships.

It’s going to take a long time to be able to sum up my 10 day trip and it will take multiple blog entries to do so, after I figure out how I want to organize them and get my pictures developed (I used a disposable camera for the on-course race photos.). For now, this post will serve as a trip report preface and you can see my post race photo with Mickey and all my race medals above.

We spent 10 days at Disney World in cold weather that at times was positively bone-chilling and was only reaching mild for a few brief intervals. Even so, we had a good time and I already can’t wait to start planning my next trip. OK, to be more accurate I have been mentally planning the next trip for a while. So, maybe it’s fairer to say that I can’t wait to start formalizing those plans.

Goals for 2010

Being a goal oriented person, I enjoy setting out a new year with specific goals in mind. The goals set out here are for my running and triathlon activities.

1. Run a sub-30 minute 5K. I've been after this one for a while and really feel I can do it this year.

2. Run a sub-2:30 half marathon. Just like #1, I really am going after this goal this year.

3. Participate in at least 4 triathlons this year. I did 4 last year, so I don't see why I can't do at least that many again.

4. Get my weight under 200 pounds and keep it there.

5. My goals for individual activities: Running 600 miles, Biking 1500 miles, Swimming 60 miles and Total Exercise Time 17,500 minutes. This would be an increase in all areas, but I think doable (providing I maintain my momentum and avoid injury). Most significantly this would be about a 40% increase in my miles biked from 2009.

Everyone have a Happy New Year, and for those I'll be seeing in Orlando soon...I'll keep an eye out for you!

2009 in Review

As the year started I set several goals for myself and now it's time to see how I did in achieving those goals.

1. Lower my 5K PR to below 30 minutes.
I fell just short on this one with a 30:20 5K in April, and it was on a trail course. I'll be adding this to next year's goal list and hope I blow it away.

2. Lower my half marathon PR to below 2:30.
I didn't run as many half marathons as I had originally intended during the year, primarily due to getting more involved in triathlons than I had anticipated. However, I did manage to PR in early December with a 2:31:24 on a tough course during poor weather. Even though I did not actually make this goal, I still feel good about where I am on half marathons right now. Again, I'll add this to next year's goal list.

3. Compete in at least 2 triathlon events.
This year I participated in 4 triathlons (2 sprint tri's, 1 Olympic distance tri, and 1 half Ironman tri...and wished I'd had the time for more!). I exceeded my goals here and really like the tri events.

4. Enroll in, and train for, the Walt Disney World Marathon in January 2010.
I am registered for both the Disney full and half marathon (aka The Goofy Challenge) for next month and am looking forward to them, as well as the longest Disney World vacation I have ever taken.

5. Get myself down under 210 pounds before the end of the year.
I weighed in at 208 pounds during the second week of December (I was at a high of about 263 pounds back in 2007). I have probably gained a few pounds back with all the Christmas celebrating (although I have not weighed myself to know for certain), so I consider this goal made.

Overall, I feel good about making 3 out of these 5 goals and just missing 2 of them. I am very happy that I not only stayed with my training, but I improved upon it. 2009 saw a decrease in miles run 506.2 vs. 641.8 miles, but that was because of an increased emphasis on miles biked (nearly 1100 miles) and swam (over 50 miles).

7 Lessons I Learned in 2009

1. I think this one really holds over from 2008, but I continued to learn more about myself through this lesson: I cannot run (or swim, bike, or perform any other exercise) so much that I can truly eat anything all the time. I actually gained around 10 pounds in my first year of training and doing running events because I assumed it didn't matter what I ate as long as I ran enough.

2. However, building on #1 is that I can eat enough of the right foods so that I don't have to be hungry--and not put on weight, and I can even get asked by my employees how I can eat so much and lose weight (because they seem to see me eating my healthy snacks frequently).

3. One side benefit of losing weight is that I am getting more miles out of a pair of running shoes, not to mention all that stuff about getting healthier, too. I have to believe that being lighter puts less wear on the shoes.

4. I learned that a good bike really makes a difference. OK, so I really knew this, but it's another thing to realize it for yourself. I easily picked up several mph on average with my new Fuji road bike over my old bike, not to mention that the top speeds hit a higher rate as well. I know I hit at least 35mph in Austin at Longhorn 70.3, and I am pretty sure I got even faster on some downhills when my bike computer was out.

5. I learned that it takes me longer to recover from a Half Ironman than it does to recover from a marathon. I suppose it would be easy to say because I spent about 30% more time completing the HIM than I did the marathon, although I suspect it had more to do with being more completely worn down due to the multiple activities (swimming, biking and running). However, even though it took me longer to fully recover (or at least recover sufficiently enough to race well), I still felt better at the finish line of the Longhorn HIM than I did at the end of the San Antonio Marathon.

6. As much as I enjoy running, I have learned that I also enjoy swimming and biking as much as running. My first year of triathlon training in 2008 ended early due to a rear end auto collision (from which I did recover after several months of rest and physical therapy). Perhaps most unfortunately, my triathlon season ended that year prior to completing my first organized triathlon event. 2009 ended up being the year I completed those triathlons. I am looking forward to next year's runs and triathlons to be even better than this year's.

7. Part of my personal success this year goes to my support system, with my family supporting my time spent in training and travelling to the occasional event. Also, I received lots of help from friends ranging from answering my questions about new subjects and areas to training alongside me on the roads. Until this year, I hadn't quite realized how important a part of my successes my friends and family are.

I'll have to keep some of these in mind as I go into next year as I have plans to advance my training to take me beyond what I have done this year while also keeping that delicate balance with my life and family at home.

20.5 Miles to New Shoes

My old shoes had been holding up well this year. I had figured to need to replace them in the October/November time frame, but they kept holding up. I recently decided that they should hold up well enough to make it through the Disney World Goofy Challenge races--and that was my mistake!

This weekend's 20.5 mile run was going real well until around 16 mile mark, when I started to feel the telltale pain in my lower legs that indicates that my shoes need to be replaced. Just to be safe I took it wasy for the last few miles back on the run to avoid hurting myself. Looking back I shouldn't have quite been surprised since I had gotten longer wear out of these shoes than any other pair in recent memory. I had gotten around 500 miles on these shoes (I didn't know that until I went through my logs earlier today.) when some others had only gotten me through 300 - 350 miles.

To be fair to me, it isn't as if I was unprepared for this. I had purchased a new pair of the same shoes (Asics Gel Fortitude 3's) several months back and had started to wear them in recently to keep myself prepared, but still I was thinking I might have more time....



Anyway, here is a photo of old and new shoes, with the only differences between them being about 500 miles of road and trail wear, plus the Yanks laces on the old pair. I wonder how long these new shoes will stay looking so bright.....